Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Writer Talk: Tyler talks music

I've heard the myth about the writer that prefers silence when they write. How they choose to turn everything off and write to nothing but the sound of their fingers hitting keys. They write fight scenes, love scenes, murderous scenes, happy scenes to the sound of nothing.

I'll never understand those people.

Sure, I've written before without a sick beat to help me along but I try not to make a habit out of it. One of the biggest pulls of inspiration I get when writing comes from music. I have had writer's block completely cleared before by just listening to Pandora and stumbling upon a great song. I've created whole scenes that have been born from just listening to that one song. Hell, I've created scenes off of just the openings before.

Music is just one of the most natural ways to make you daydream. That can help you a great deal when trying to weave together your epic tale.

I've noticed in the past few years that authors are really starting to take notice in how important music is to their books. Some authors go as far as including a list of the songs they wrote certain scenes to in the back of their books as well as others posting entire playlists they wrote to online.

(See, C. Elizabeth Vescio's playlists for The Wasted Series here. I'm a huge fan of them...I MAY follow them already...I do.)

I think that is bitching.

In the best of ways, of course.

Listening to a song while reading a scene completely changes how you perceive it. Instead of just reading the words and knowing what they mean, music can help you really feel them.

Was that too cheesy? It's fine!

To be truthful, I wasn't as passionate about this subject until a few years back. I was stuck in the middle outlining--I couldn't figure out how to write climax of the book. That's when Fix You by Coldplay came on. It rocked my effing world. I, not only, wrote the entire climax TO that song but it became the soundtrack for the entire book. It inspired my pants off and helped me work through almost all of the issues I had been facing. Now, I know Coldplay isn't everyone's favorite band and I'm definitely not trying to sell you their albums. I'm just saying that listening to music while you write can really make a big difference in your inspiration levels.

Give it a try! Link your playlists in the comments or tell us YOUR favorite song to write along with!

I may have playlists for every single character for inspiration, but when I'm actually putting my fingers on the keys and typing, it's usually a soundtrack I've got on. I tend to find lyrics distracting when I'm writing. My go-to composer is Hans Zimmer - the man is a god.

When I'm brainstorming it's a completely different story! I get my best ideas while driving, and music plays a huge part of that. My favorite thing is when I come across a song that makes my brain scream "THIS WOULD MAKE AN AMAZING MOVIE TRAILER!" I keep a playlist of those tracks for whenever I need a burst of energy!

Lately when I'm working on a fight scene I'll reach for some angry dubstep. An assault on the ears makes me want to assault someone in prose. >_<

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